Hatrack River Forum: Firewall Problems

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Posted by Jonathan Howard (Member # 6934) on :

Hey all, I've been using (Symantec) Norton Internet Security for a while, now in the "2005" version.

All due respect, but there's a problem that I discovered when I logged on to the Symantec Security Site; I ran their scans, and apparently, Port 80 is "Open and vulnerable".

But then, why Should it be closed or stealthed? I tried to configure my firewall to higher security, but Port 80 remains open. How do I configure specific ports to be stealthed, regardless of when they're used?

Thanks,

Jonny

[ December 14, 2004, 01:52 AM: Message edited by: Jonathan Howard ]

Posted by TomDavidson (Member # 124) on :

I'm not sure what standard they're using to determine "open and vulnerable." But port 80 is one of those ports that you want to be at least a little bit open, or else you wouldn't be able to read this web page. [Smile]

Posted by Jonathan Howard (Member # 6934) on :

I know; and yet, Symantec (and other sites) warns me I am vulnerable. If it's stealthed then only outbound (and consequently inbound, with the signal started from within my PC) signals can be viewed. It's another measure of security.

Jonny

Posted by Scott R (Member # 567) on :

Do you have a webserver running anywhere on your home lan?

:shrug:

I don't have a lot of faith in Symantec's firewall software; in my experience, it causes almost as many problems as NOT having firewall software.

[ December 14, 2004, 09:43 AM: Message edited by: Scott R ]

Posted by Bokonon (Member # 480) on :

Odds are, it thinks you are vulnerable because it's assuming you might have a web server running on your system, and therefore keeping port 80 open, without any other info, means you could be susceptible to buffer underflow/overflow errors, where a hacker could use these methods to run arbitrary commands on your system.

I'm guessing that it's just being over zealous, especially on windows systems with port 80 (IIS runs on the port).

-Bok

Posted by Jonathan Howard (Member # 6934) on :

I have no web-server on my system, particularly IIS!

So, how do I correct it?

Jonny

P.S. I trust Symantec in firewalls; it's better than Panda, ZoneAlarm, Windows Firewall, McAfee, and head-to-head with ZoneAlarm Pro.

P.P.S. How come the Symantc Security site requires Internet Exploder to operate properly? Hmmmmm!

[ December 14, 2004, 10:03 AM: Message edited by: Jonathan Howard ]